A review by Antony Stivala

In one word - fantastic. My fourth Bon Jovi concert (Wembley 93, 95, Milton Keynes 96) and they never fail to deliver the goods.

Anyway, back to the beginning. Support acts were the Dum Dums and Toploader. The Dum Dums did well for a very young band who were obviously in awe of the occasion. Power pop/punk type music - bouncy and cheerful - fine for getting the crowd warmed up. Toploader, on the other hand, had come from the V2000 festival to play and, to be honest, that seemed to be a more appropriate gig for them. Musically a mix between Oasis and The Verve, they weren't so much bad as a bit slow and, dare I say it, indie?? They only really hit the spot with their hit Dancing in the Moonlight and, although they drew a pretty decent crowd response, they suffered from too many lulls in their set.

So, to the main event. Bon Jovi's arrival was announced as the video screens flanking the stage kicked into life showing the band leaving their dressing room and walking to the stage. Cue hysteria in the crowd!!! They hit the stage not with one of their own songs, but with The Clash's London Calling - an appropriate song for the location, but a choice that slightly caught people out. Anyway, the usual opening duo of Livin' on a Prayer and You Give Love A Bad Name moved the show into top gear, and from there they never looked back. Richie's guitar kept cutting out during the first few songs but soon sorted itself out. Although the set was less than elaborate than previous tours, good use was made of images projected onto the screens flanking the stage (Wanted Dead or Alive particularly) and for Lay Your Hands on Me a huge pair of inflatable hands appeared either side of the stage. Song of the night for me was probably I Got The Girl - the atmosphere it generated in the crowd was incredible, particularly the sing along chorus. Running that close would be Its My Life for similar reasons. Overall, it has to be said that all the songs off the Crush album were fantastic and were equal to their much older neighbours - an indicator of how good the new album is. A number of differences were evident from the last few tours: no pyro during the songs, Jon played guitar on many more songs than usual (less trips to the outer reaches of the stage) and the drums/keyboard intro to Lay Your Hands on Me has gone. You might think these would detract from the overall show but it is testament to the strength of the set that they didn't. As the set drew to a close with Keep the Faith, we suddenly discovered why there had been no pyro - once the band had disappeared all hell broke loose above the stage - it could have been November 5th come early!!! If they use any more tomorrow night Wembley Stadium won't need any demolition work - it'll have been done for them!!!

SETLIST

1. London Calling
2. Livin' On A Prayer
3. You Give Love A Bad Name
4. Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen From Mars
5. Say It Isn't So
6. One Wild Night
7. Born To Be My Baby
8. Its My Life
9. Runaway
10. Bed of Roses
11. I Got The Girl
12. Someday I'll Be Saturday Night
13. Wild In The Streets
14. Just Older
15. Lay Your Hands On Me
16. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead/Rocking All Over The World
17. Bad Medicine
18. Shout

ENCORE 1:
19. Two Story Town
20. Blood On Blood
21. Wanted Dead or Alive

ENCORE 2:
22. Next 100 Years
23. Keep The Faith

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